3/30/13 - Recreating the Pancake Breakfast

After 9 months I finally caught my first tropical illness.  It doesn't seem to be anything worse than a normal winter cold back home, you just get caught off guard a little because you aren't expecting to get sick when its 90 degrees and humid outside.  Regardless, it knocked me off the blog trail for a few weeks, but we're back!  And just in time for the best 3 week period of the year - NCAA tournament time.  Because of being sick, consuming lots of water and tropical fruit, plus its once again test time at school, we haven't been too active the past few weeks.  Luckily the tournament provides the backdrop for a relatively entertaining story - with inspiration from both east and west.

One of the best parts about life are the random traditions that take root throughout the year.  Often they start so innocuously that you have problems pinpointing their exact start date.  It might be the food you eat on a certain holiday, looking at lights on Christmas, gathering at specific location for your birthday, or in this case, meeting on the edge of civilization to watch a weekend of basketball.  For too many years now, a group of friends have gathered in Hatfield, Wisconsin (population 50) in the woods, on a frozen lake to watch the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.  It began with 4 guys watching the games on a 13" TV with an analog antenna signal that was so spotty you often couldn't read the score at the bottom of the screen.  At one point we were screaming and yelling because we thought it was a tie game and it turned out it was about a 20 point spread.  And yes, it was the TV signal and not the late night from before, that's our story and I'm sticking to it.  To quote Anchorman, 'Its the pancake breakfast, we do it every month."  In our case it was once a year and you didn't even have to ask what date you were expected to show up.

As with anything in life, the tradition evolved.  The 13" TV turned into a 17" TV.  Then it went from an analog signal to a digital signal and all of a sudden there was never a question about the score.  We had to relocate from sitting on the freezing cold tile floor in the sun room to the thinly carpeted loft because that was the only place the digital signal came in.  With digital, it either works or it does not.  Gone was our fuzzy analog signal that came in anywhere......well sort of came in anywhere.  We graduated from school and suddenly it wasn't as easy to get there.  Some people had a few hours drive, others were meeting in the airport before making the trek down.  At least it made for some interesting conversation starters at the local tavern - "Where are you from?" Texas, California, St. Paul - followed by a blank stare and then "Why are you here?!?"  At least we had our standard response, "Why wouldn't we be here?"

Unfortunately, the pancake breakfast had to take a temporary hiatus.  Domestic flights are one thing, but flying in from Asia or Europe for the weekend doesn't seem to work as well.  Sports for me has been one of the largest adjustments to living over here.  I've been lucky enough to watch a few football and basketball games, but watching them early in the morning without your usual group of friends isn't quite the same.  The lead up to the game is half the fun, now you roll out of bed, grab some coffee and turn the iPad on.  Finally, the stars have aligned themselves and I feel a bit like I've traveled back in time.  Basketball games are on late enough in the morning they don't seem unnatural and I'm watching them on a 10" screen that sometimes comes in crystal clear and at other times you're left wondering who's winning.  I haven't gotten worked up about an incorrect score yet, but I can feel it coming.  In honor of our movie inspiration, I even grabbed some local banana pancakes to add some eastern flair.  Turns out, you can recreate a tradition most places.  Now my only hope is they show the Division II National Championship Game tomorrow (inside joke).

Back to another tradition that knows no international boundaries - cheering against Duke!

3/17/2013 - St. Patricks Day on the Other Emerald Isle

Believe it or not, over 50% of Singapore is considered to be green space.  Considering how many people live and work here as well as the size of the island, its kind of incredible that there is that much open space with only vegetation.  Our porch overlooks a fairly dense forest, but that has just become our backyard so you don't think about it that much.  Yesterday, we took the bus downtown and sat on the second level for the first time.  Had to check another Singapore to do off the list.  Not sure if I would do it again because you sway back and forth, the ride is a little herky jerky and you feel like you are going to run into one of the many previously mentioned trees that are overhanging the road.  It does, however, give you a nice vantage point for seeing the city and appreciating how everywhere you look is extremely green and lush.  Little different than the black tunnel that is the subway and then popping up from underground somewhere.

Anyway, the point of taking the bus downtown and why all this is fitting is we were meeting up with friends for a joint birthday party/St. Patricks Day celebration. As you can imagine, with the amount of expats here and the British influence it was a bit of a production.... and that was last night.  Something tells me tonight could be even moreso of an Irish festival.  Either way, this Emerald Isle put on a show this weekend.

The first stop was Molly Roffeys Irish pub.... next to a ramen noodle restaurant of course.  They were having a special on Tiger green beer, but one beer with an excessive amount of food coloring in it was enough of a reason to switch over to Guinness.  Besides, if you're going to celebrate St. Patricks day right, you probably should be having something from Ireland vs. a Singapore beer that happens to be a different color.  Even better, if you bought 4 points you got a free Guinness bowler hat and there were enough of us there to make sure we could have some additions to our already green, festive attire.

They actually had a pretty good live band playing; after last weekend this seems like it might be more of a regular occurrence for us.  The only bad part was, they weren't playing any Irish music and actually stopped for the night at 11.  At first we thought they were just on another break, but when someone looked over and realized the guitars were gone we had reached the decision point.  Do we call it a night and head home or do we continue on in search of more Guinness, leprechauns and shenanigans?  You can probably guess where this ended up.
 

Last weekend we had briefly stopped in Muddy Murphys basement Irish bar, but only sat on their patio (its split - indoor basement/outdoor patio) and left early when there was no music and too many large gentlemen watching rugby.  If there was ever a weekend to give it another shot, this was clearly the one.  We started walking down the stairs to the portion of the bar that is outdoors and again, lots of large guys watching rugby.  Thinking we may have struck out, but deciding to get one more drink before heading home, we ducked into the actual basement bar and it became immediately apparent we had come to the right place.  It was like you had set foot into the steerage hold of the Titanic.  Warm and sweaty, low ceilings (glad we weren't on a boat) and the sound of an accordion and fiddle playing some Irish music above the din of the crowd.  There was even a guy playing a recorder which led to multiple elementary school music jokes, but really did add to the atmosphere.  They played Irish folk rock songs that half the bar seemed to know the words to, a few U2 songs that caused the room to shake people were singing so loud and even a tip of the cap to the Brits with some Mumford and Sons.  When it hit midnight and actually was St. Patricks Day, you would have thought it was New Years Eve times eight.  Crazy.  I know where I'll be again 365 days from now.

3/10/13 - One weekend - 100 years apart

We were all over the map this weekend.  I doubt we traveled more than a few physical miles, but it felt like we may have strapped ourselves into Doc Brown's DeLorean and crash landed into a few different time periods.  The first half of the weekend felt like it may have been spent in the earlier part of the past century with the second half vaulting us straight into the present day.  It wasn't a time machine with a flux capacitor, but some sparkling wine, music and movies that gave us the kick out of the 21st century.  The next night, all it took was some modern architecture, a cover band and a night out to bring us back full circle.... or close enough.

I had just returned to Singapore after being gone the past 3 weeks and Sarah had finished her first mid-term of the semester so we decided to pop a cork.  Lets be honest, if you know my wife and her love of wine with bubbles in it, we didn't need much of an excuse.  As she had just picked up a duty free bottle on the way back from Cambodia, she was like the proverbial kid with some money burning a hole in her pocket.  I was looking forward to relaxing though, so I was fairly complicit in this evening activity.  Frank Sinatra and crew provided the soundtrack to the evening on the porch and with a light breeze outside, it was one of those nights where the hours just slide by.  When Louis Armstrong started singing 'As time goes by' you half expected Humphrey Bogart in a white tuxedo to pop his head out the door to make sure everyone was having a good time.  Once the wine was gone we took a step back from thinking about WWII Bogart to actually watching him in action during WWI, evading Germans and big game wildlife on the African Queen.  Not as good as Casablanca, but still a pretty good movie.

After a low key relaxing evening that felt like it took place in a different era, even if it was from the comfort of our own home, it was time to get back out on the town.  The Lantern is an outdoor bar that would feel at home in any major city in the world.  Its on the roof of the Fullerton Bay Hotel (sister hotel to where we had previously had afternoon tea) and has a great view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and Singapore Flyer.  The bar has the full repertoire of interesting cocktails accompanied by a wide variety of food to snack on.  If possible (from a cost and nutritional standpoint) I'm pretty sure we could subsist on their truffle fries for the rest of our life.

Not having the budget to linger too long, we continued on with the evening once the nightly laser light show was done.  It was off meet up with some friends in a basement Irish bar to listen to a cover band crank out some 80's rock music.  Unfortunately, this plan got derailed by the Scotland/Wales rugby match.  Since a few hundred rather large gentlemen with accents ranging from mostly understandable to "what did he just say?" had descended on the bar it was time for plan B.  Back across town to Boat Quaye to hear a Filipino band rock out to Bon Jovi and Journey.  You had to smile at that - from the early 1900's to modern day Singapore, we ended up back in the 80's to close out our weekend.  Close enough to the right time period I suppose... and we could sing along as well.  I call it a winning combination.

Cambodia - Angkor What?! (Part 1)

 With Dan in the trenches of busy season, I promised to help carry the blog while he reviews and closes out financial statements. I had a weeklong school break and a husband working 12-15 hour days, so what better time for a little adventure (sorry Dan!).

I spent 5 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I really enjoyed this laid-back town. It fulfills every Asian city stereotype you can think of… you come across chickens, dogs, cats, monkeys and cows. You see the family of 5 (Mom, Dad and 3 kids) riding on a scooter. A tuk-tuk is your common mode of transportation. Buddhist monks wander around the temples and throughout the town. There are good smells and bad smells.

I traveled with my friend Danielle (her husband works with Dan so we were in the same boat: free time + busy husband = travel) and friend Cindy. Vandy was our tour guide for the trip and we were the first lucky group to be taken around in his recently purchased Toyota Camry. While Vandy has a lot of knowledge and experience with regards to the temples and Cambodian culture, by the end of the first evening we were guessing driving was a newer experience. We typically cruised around town at the high speed of 30 MPH and a 3-point turn typically turned into a 6-point turn. Needless to say, at least we were safe.

Our first day started at 5am with the sunrise over Angkor Wat, which translates to the City of Temples. It was built in the early 12^th century as a Hindu religious center. We visited three temples, Angkor Thom, Bayon and Ta Prohm. There were lots of statues, intricate carvings and trees that had overtaken the temple. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so rather than try to describe the temples, I'll share a few photos. 

The Ta Prohm temple was built in the 12th century and contains a carving of a stegosaurus.
Researches believe this is the original stone and not a hoax. Pretty interesting to think about. 

That afternoon we visited the Missionaries of Charity orphanage. We volunteered there a couple of days during our visit. Let’s just say we were quite surprised when we were welcomed by a song, “hey, sexy ladies!” from one of the 5 year old boys, doing the Gangnam style dance. How a child in an orphanage, in Cambodia, with no TV or radio learned the Gangnam Style song and dance is beyond us. While we certainly didn’t encourage his performance, we certainly didn’t discourage it. It was pretty cute. In all there were 14 kids at the orphanage ranging from 3 months to 5 years old. We quickly learned the Cambodian words/phrases for, ‘Please sit down’, ‘No hitting’, and ‘Please share’ as the kids played with the toys we had brought. We weren’t allowed to take pictures at the orphanage but these kids were absolutely adorable and so sweet. Their smiles and hugs were really something special.

We finished off the night with some Cambodian food (pretty similar to Thai food, but less spicy) and a  traditional Khmer dance show.